Category Archives: Medical research

Pfizer/BioNTech tax windfall brings Mainz an early Christmas present

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German city where early Covid vaccine was developed uses its new-found wealth to slash debt and attract other biotech firms

The Pfizer/BioNTech jab is having an unexpected side-effect on the German municipality where scientists first developed it: for the first time in three decades the city of Mainz expects to become debt-free thanks to the tax revenues generated by the company’s global success.

Mainz’s decision to use its financial windfall to also slash corporate tax rates in the hope of attracting industry, especially biotech companies, however, is drawing criticism from neighbouring cities and economists.

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Tensions are rising about pandemic modelling, but we ‘gloomsters’ are saving lives

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Scientists are often blamed for leading to excessive curbs on society. But they are cautious for a very good reason

The past week has seen tensions rising about scientific modelling during the pandemic. Projections cited by UK and devolved governments as they tightened Covid restrictions have led to strained exchanges. But modelling is essential because it tell us:

• What are the range of possible outcomes based on what we know?
Society can’t just wait for things to happen. We can and do save lives by being prepared for a range of things, only some of which happen. As information increases, the model improves, and the range of outcomes narrows as scenarios are eliminated.

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More options for Covid treatments in January as FDA approves two antiviral pills

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The approval comes as reports of shortages in monoclonal antibody treatment arise and cases spike

People at greater risk of becoming seriously ill from Covid-19 will likely have more treatment options in January.

That’s the forecast in the wake of the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval this week of the first two antiviral pills used to treat Covid-19 and reports of shortages of a monoclonal antibody treatment used against the Omicron variant.

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Good news is Omicron may be less severe, bad news is it’s surging faster

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Analysis: smaller proportion of people hospitalised with Covid variant means little when rise in infections is so huge, warn experts

Evidence that infections caused by Omicron may be less severe than other Covid variants is good news but is likely to make little or no difference to the duration of the pandemic, according to experts.

Several pieces of research published this week suggest that people infected with Omicron are much less likely to require hospitalisation.

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Data appears to support claims that Omicron is less severe in South Africa

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Scientists warn, however, that lower severity of cases is not fully understood and may not occur elsewhere

South Africa has reported data on Covid cases driven by the Omicron variant that appears to give added impetus to claims the country is experiencing a lower severity of disease.

“In South Africa, this is the epidemiology: Omicron is behaving in a way that is less severe,” said Prof Cheryl Cohen of the country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), one of the authors of the study.

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Omicron is exploding – but scientists are better prepared than for any past variant | Manon Ragonnet-Cronin

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We’re making progress in the arms race against the virus, but work in the lab must be supported by public health measures

It’s beginning to feel a lot like last Christmas. Case numbers of a new Covid variant are exploding across the UK, and the prime minister is cautioning that restrictions may be called for. But while the threat of Omicron likely surpasses that of previous variants, our tools to track and combat the virus have also advanced since last year.

The world was alerted to Omicron by the Botswanan and South African scientists who first sequenced the novel variant on 24 November, and it was designated as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization two days later. It was immediately obvious to them that they had something alarming on their hands when they saw the large number of mutations in the Omicron genome.

Dr Manon Ragonnet-Cronin is an MRC Fellow at Imperial College London and a member of the Imperial College Covid-19 response team

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Covid: how has the pandemic changed in the UK in 2021?

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The year has been marked by the success of the vaccination drive – yet thousands have still died

This time last year, Covid-19 cases were soaring in the UK, hospitalisations were steadily increasing, and the government had tightened restrictions to try to get a handle on a concerning new variant.

Twelve months on, there is a sense of deja vu. A weary public is worried about its festive plans being cancelled, an outcome that would be all the more painful in light of the Christmas party scandal that has enveloped Downing Street in recent weeks.

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Contact with nature in cities reduces loneliness, study shows

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Loneliness is significant mental health concern and can raise risk of death by 45%, say scientists

Contact with nature in cities significantly reduces feelings of loneliness, according to a team of scientists.

Loneliness is a major public health concern, their research shows, and can raise a person’s risk of death by 45% – more than air pollution, obesity or alcohol abuse.

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Is there any good news at all on Omicron? Yes, there are small signs of hope

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Analysis: scientists are only starting to understand new Covid mutation but there is encouraging news from the laboratory, South Africa and on antiviral drugs

It’s hard to find much good news among the waves of grim statistics that have washed over the nation since the emergence of Omicron.

Once again, the NHS is threatened and again, the prospect of a new year lockdown looms. We seem to have gained nothing in the battle against Covid-19 during the past 12 months.

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T-cells in Pfizer Covid jab recipients stay robust against severe illness

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Research in South Africa raises hopes that similar responses may be present with other vaccines

South African researchers examining how the body’s immune system responds to the Omicron variant have identified that T-cells in people who have had the Pfizer vaccine continue to be robust in potentially protecting against severe illness despite Omicron’s ability to evade other defences.

The research raises hopes that similar responses may be present with other vaccines and within unvaccinated individuals who have been infected with coronavirus.

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GSK/Sanofi Covid booster delayed by lack of uninfected people to test it on

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Early trials show jab effective in people of all ages who have already received doses of any vaccine

Efforts by the British and French drugmakers GSK and Sanofi Pasteur to produce a Covid-19 vaccine have suffered a further setback, with final clinical data on the jab and a potential launch delayed until next year as they struggle to find enough uninfected people to test it on.

The two vaccine specialists announced positive preliminary results from a trial that showed the vaccine raised antibody levels against Covid by nine to 43 times when given as a single booster shot in people who had already received doses of AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, for all age groups.

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Omicron likely to accelerate death rate in Europe, says health agency

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EU risk assessment advises against Christmas mixing owing to new Covid variant’s high transmissibility

Christmas get-togethers may need to be downsized as Omicron is now “very likely” to increase the death toll in Europe even if it proves to be less severe, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has said.

The new Covid variant’s high transmissibility means that more people are forecast by the EU agency to be admitted to hospital or killed this winter than previously projected.

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How big is the risk of Omicron in the UK and how do we know?

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Analysis: Sajid Javid estimates there are 200,000 new cases a day – here’s why the experts suggest that number will soon multiply

When Savid Javid revealed on Monday that an estimated 200,000 people a day are getting infected with Omicron, it brought understandable concern – especially as just 4,713 cases of the variant had been confirmed in the UK so far – . So where does this figure come from – and what does it tell us about the trajectory of the surge?

Confirming a Covid case is caused by the Omicron variant requires a full genetic analysis of that person’s swab. According to Prof Paul Hunter at the University of East Anglia, it can take up to two weeks to return a viral sequence, meaning the figure of 4,713 Omicron cases reported by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) was already out of date.

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Will Omicron kill Christmas? How science stacks up in boosters v Covid variant battle

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Analysis: UK faces grim winter if vaccines offer poor overall protection, but if the virus has weak powers to evade immunity, hospital cases can be contained

Two competing forces will determine Omicron’s impact on the nation over the next few weeks. The power of booster jabs to give last-minute protection against Covid-19 will be pitted against the new variant’s ability to elude existing immunity. The outcome will decide whether our festive season is going to be muted or miserable.

If enough arms are jabbed with booster vaccines, while Omicron turns out to have poor powers to evade immunity, then there is hope hospital cases will be contained and the NHS will be protected. Severe restrictions in the new year – including the prospect of lockdowns – could be avoided.

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As Covid mutates, the vaccine makers are adapting too

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Focus on the exciting potential of T-cell immunity is spurring the sector on to create a new generation of jabs

The speed at which scientists worked to develop the first Covid jabs was unprecedented. Just nine months after the UK went into lockdown, 90-year-old Margaret Keenan officially became the first person in the world outside a trial to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. But the virus is mutating, and the emergence of the Omicron variant last month is already focusing attention on the next generation of jabs.

So what do we know about the new Covid-19 vaccines? One change is with delivery mechanisms, such as San Francisco firm Vaxart’s vaccine-in-a-pill, and Scancell’s spring-powered injectors that pierce the skin without a needle. But the biggest development is in T-cell technology. Produced by the bone marrow, T-cells are white blood cells that form a key part of the immune system. While current vaccines mainly generate antibodies that stick to the virus and stop it infecting the body, the new vaccines prime T-cells to find and destroy infected cells, thus preventing viral replication and disease. (The current vaccines also produce a T-cell response, but to a lesser extent.)

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From hippos to hamsters: how Covid is affecting creatures great and small

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Scientists are racing to assess the spread of the virus in wild and domestic animals, and the threat it could pose to us

A year ago humanity embarked on a project to vaccinate every person against Covid-19. But in recent months a shadow vaccination campaign has also been taking place. From giraffes to snow leopards, gorillas to sea lions, zoos around the world have been inoculating their animals with an experimental Covid vaccine as an insurance policy against what they fear could be a similarly fatal illness for certain mammals.

Meanwhile, veterinary scientists have been scrambling to understand the scale of Covid-19 infection in our furry household companions, and what the consequences could be for their health – and our own.

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Why uncontrolled HIV may be behind the emergence of Omicron

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Analysis: experts say weakened immune systems may give rise to new Covid variants – so HIV prevention could be key to stopping coronavirus

Where did Omicron come from? By all accounts it is a weird variant. Though highly mutated, it descended not from one of the other variants of concern, such as Alpha, Beta or Delta, but from coronavirus that was circulating maybe 18 months ago. So where has it been all this time? And why is it only wreaking havoc now?

Researchers are exploring a number of hunches. One is that Omicron arose in a remote region of southern Africa but failed to spread until now. Another is that it evolved in infected animals, such as rats, and then crossed back into humans. But a third explanation is gaining ground as more data come to light, that Omicron arose in a person with a weakened immune system: someone having cancer treatment perhaps, an organ transplant patient or someone with uncontrolled HIV.

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Scientists use ostrich cells to make glowing Covid detection masks

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Japanese researchers use bird antibodies to detect virus under ultraviolet light

Japanese researchers have developed masks that use ostrich antibodies to detect Covid-19 by glowing under ultraviolet light.

The discovery, by Yasuhiro Tsukamoto and his team at Kyoto Prefectural University in western Japan, could provide for low-cost testing of the virus at home.

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Three doses of Pfizer vaccine likely to protect against Omicron infection, tests suggest

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Initial findings indicate stark reduction in protection against new Covid variant from two vaccine doses

Three doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are likely to protect against infection with the Omicron variant but two doses may not, according to laboratory data that will increase pressure to speed up booster programmes.

Tests using antibodies in blood samples have given some of the first insights into how far Omicron escapes immunity, showing a stark drop-off in the predicted protection against infection or any type of disease for people who have had two doses. The findings suggest that, for Omicron, Pfizer/BioNTech should now be viewed as a “three-dose vaccine”.

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Queensland declares ‘world first’ Omicron Covid genetic variation but experts say it is not a new variant

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Sub-lineage described as Omicron ‘like’ was identified in an overseas arrival to the state from South Africa

Queensland has declared a “world-first” sub-lineage of Omicron but experts say it’s not a new variant or a new strain and more information is needed.

The new Omicron Covid sub-lineage, known as Omicron “like”, was identified in an overseas arrival to Queensland from South Africa.

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